The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Pinecooler on February 09, 2016, 06:29:17 pm
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So for the last week I've been fighting a losing battle. I would go out each day and it was a lottery as to whether I got a whole egg or an empty one.
At first I blamed crows, then thought it could be one of my hens but following putting a spare cctv camera in the coup it is now confirmed that a local stray cat is eating them.
What do I do?
Have fought to keep cats away in the past but never had any luck. I have tried mustard filled eggs when I thought it was the hens but that hasn't stopped it.
Really don't know what to do.
If I can't find a solution in my mind this is analogous to a dog bothering livestock.i will seek clarification from a vet/police but if I can't get rid of it another way I may have to get the gun out.
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You could ask the local cats protection or sspca for a humane trap, then it could be neutered and released somewhere it won't cause bother?
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You could ask the local cats protection or sspca for a humane trap, then it could be neutered and released somewhere it won't cause bother?
Will do this thanks.
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I'd just buy some Whiskas, poor thing :cat:
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I'd just buy some Whiskas, poor thing :cat:
I agree, the poor soul must be starving to break open eggs - my cat won't touch them - except on the odd occasion I give the dogs some old ones then he helps eat them.
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Sounds like Tom and Jerry to me Pinecooler - sure there's not a wee mouse tee heeing in the corner? And you'll be that big Yosemite fella with the red moustache and the pistols....
Give the wee pussy a chance I'd say.
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my old tom loved eggs and would knock them off whatever I had put them on in order to eat one. Must have learned it when a stray.
Put out some whiskas and get a humane trap.
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I realise that cats are close to some people's hearts but this one is vermin.
If anyone wants to feed it then please feel free to come round and spend your money.
Just answer me this, if I had replaced cat with any of the following what would the response have been: crow, magpie, stoat, Fox, badger?
Also much of the advise when a hen starts eating eggs is to cull the hen. Why should I do that and then subsidise this stray animal?
If I wanted to feed the cat I would have done so therefore please keep any such comments to yourself unless you are willing to come get the cat yourself.
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A phone call to your local cats protection service is all that's needed Pinecooler, won't cost you much, they'll do the rest.
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If I wanted to feed the cat I would have done so therefore please keep any such comments to yourself unless you are willing to come get the cat yourself.
most of us have/do have problems with the animals you mentioned. You asked for advice-you got some.
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If I wanted to feed the cat I would have done so therefore please keep any such comments to yourself unless you are willing to come get the cat yourself.
That's a bit harsh berating people who have not been rude or nasty.
It is the Internet and you are asking for opinions, you are always going to get lots of them.
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The cats protection league were really good when I asked them for help a few years ago. Not that the cats were too much of a problem to me, I like cats as much as the next person, but they were starving and so interbred they were deformed, poor dears. The CPL set traps, took them away, neutered them, homed what they could and brought the rest back to this area. They disappeared over the years but I now see a new influx of dumped cats so will contact the CPL again.
I can't befriend them as I have a pack of sighthounds!
Pinecooler, if you befriend this cat you may find you have an answer to any rodent problem?
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We had /have a similar problem in that a moth eaten rag bag of a "stray" cat has not been eating eggs, but instead knocks seven bells out of our cats and our neighbours- torn ears and vet bills have become the norm. We assumed it was a stray and after speaking to our vet they lent us a humane trap, which soon worked and we took the savage beast off to the vet. they scanned it and with no identifying chip it was moved onto the CPL. the following evening, a sweet little old lady (who lives over a mile away) and her grandson arrived at our door with some leaflets with a picture of their beloved moggy who had disappeared the day before- the cat in the photo was very familiar. "He never goes anywhere", she said obliviously !!!. she was fairly good about it and her precious pet was successfully retrieved. We were able to tell her about his "other life" and for a while she seemd to make an effort to keep him in at night. but that was a while ago and only recently our neighbours cat was on the wrong end of a beating requiring abs and the vet. not sure what can be done. would advocate the humane trap route for you, just hope he is a stray
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I realise that cats are close to some people's hearts but this one is vermin.
If anyone wants to feed it then please feel free to come round and spend your money.
Just answer me this, if I had replaced cat with any of the following what would the response have been: crow, magpie, stoat, Fox, badger?
Also much of the advise when a hen starts eating eggs is to cull the hen. Why should I do that and then subsidise this stray animal?
If I wanted to feed the cat I would have done so therefore please keep any such comments to yourself unless you are willing to come get the cat yourself.
Don't ask for comments and then tell people to keep them to themselves just because they are not as nasty as you'd like.
And you didn't ask about a stoat or fox, nor about an egg eating hen, so those analogies don't work.
How about this: if you don't like the friendly and polite advice you received, maybe you should keep your comments to yourself.
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I get your point pinecooler, but your response is a bit ott on the defensive.
Good luck with the cats protection league - you may need to explain the problem throughly as they seem to like to release strays where they've been caught, after being snipped, round here.
My mum got landed with one; cpl lent her a cage trap, caught the stray, but they had no room, so after it had been sorted at the vets they said it would have to be destroyed unless she could keep in a cage at home, just until they got some room and then they'd take him off her... In the weeks that followed, she phoned them, but they never had a space for him so he stayed.
Alternatively, I read a sickening scientific paper from the 1950's or 1960's. Cats were placed individually in rooms. A bowl of food was placed in the room. When the cat first approached the food, a fire extinguisher was sprayed on the cat until it was empty. The food was thereafter replaced daily. All the cats in the experiment starved themselves to death by refusing to approach the food again. So perhaps is you could catch him in your hen shed and bang on the sides and chase him out/water pistols are meant to be good for teaching cats a lesson, he might never go in again?
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Alternatively, I read a sickening scientific paper from the 1950's or 1960's. Cats were placed individually in rooms. A bowl of food was placed in the room. When the cat first approached the food, a fire extinguisher was sprayed on the cat until it was empty. The food was thereafter replaced daily. All the cats in the experiment starved themselves to death by refusing to approach the food again. So perhaps is you could catch him in your hen shed and bang on the sides and chase him out/water pistols are meant to be good for teaching cats a lesson, he might never go in again?
Jeez, dinnae gie them any mair bright ideas.
Whit wid be the purpose o' an experiment like that?
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Don't remember, maybe to do with how teachable different animals are? I seem to remember talking to an older researcher who said that when ethics committees were about to be brought in, (maybe 1950/60's?) there were many horrendous animal experiments carried out, just to satisfy curiosity because researchers realised they would never be allowed to do them once the legislation came into force. So any niggling questions they had wondered about were answered in a hurry.
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Don't remember, maybe to do with how teachable different animals are? I seem to remember talking to an older researcher who said that when ethics committees were about to be brought in, (maybe 1950/60's?) there were many horrendous animal experiments carried out, just to satisfy curiosity because researchers realised they would never be allowed to do them once the legislation came into force. So any niggling questions they had wondered about were answered in a hurry.
A proud period for science then.